The Vancouver Foundation finds us wanting in some areas
Randy Shore
Sun
The Vancouver Foundation will use Vital Signs as a tool to hone the effectiveness and impact of its community grants process. Photograph by : Ian Lindsay/Vancouver Sun
OUR VITAL SIGNS
B+ The Good
– A desirable place to live
– Ethnic diversity
D+ The Bad
– Homelessness and addiction haunt our streets
Your grades are in, Vancouver, and you’ve got a few things to work on.
The Vancouver Foundation today releases Vital Signs 2006, a report card that rates the Greater Vancouver’s performance in 12 key indicators of livability, and it finds us wanting in our treatment of our poor, our new immigrants, and the affordability of our housing.
The Vancouver Foundation will use Vital Signs as a tool to hone the effectiveness and impact of its community grants process.
“It’s a measuring point we can use to look at what it is we are funding and maybe reallocate some of that money into areas where the need is greater,” said Faye Wightman, president and CEO of the Vancouver Foundation.
But Wightman says the report can also be a valuable tool for broader change.
Politicians and officials at every level of government can expect a visit from the foundation’s brass, report in hand, Wightman promised. While the foundation distributed $35 million last year in endowments and grants that target services for children, health, arts and education, that is a pittance compared with the power of governments to effect change.
Vancouver’s Vital Signs 2006 is based on a project started five years ago by the Toronto Community Foundation dubbed The City’s Annual Check-up. The Vancouver version takes Toronto’s medical motif and puts a pedagogical spin on it, adding letter grades.
The report is published in a language and format that is easy to read and understand, with the idea that it can be used to stimulate debate in any setting. Each category in the colourful booklet includes an overview of the subject, a letter grade and three priorities for change as identified by the foundation’s 200-member citizens’ consulting panel.
STARTLING GRADES
While Vancouver usually shows very well in livability surveys — we were named the most livable city by The Economist in 2005 — the panel handed out some startling grades.
We received a D+ in Housing: It’s too expensive for those who can pay and leaves few palatable options for those who can’t, said the panel. The ratio of house prices to median income, one of many statistical measures employed by Vital Signs, rates Vancouver as “severely unaffordable.”
The Gap Between Rich and Poor garnered only a C- for Vancouver: Nearly one in five people in this city lives below the Low-Income Cut-off (LICO), a formula used by the federal government to measure poverty. The foundation’s polling found that alleviating poverty is a top priority for people who live in Vancouver.
“For the Vancouver Foundation, that means the people of this city don’t think we are doing a good enough job of dealing with this and we need to start talking with people who are interested in making change happen,” Wightman said.
Even though the Vancouver Foundation is the biggest community philanthropic organization in Canada, Wightman said, “there’s no way we alone can address this issue.”
So, who is going to help?
The most influential of those consulted for Vital Signs is the foundation’s leadership advisory group, which includes: Vancouver superintendent of schools Chris Kelly, Heather Redfern of the Greater Vancouver Alliance for Arts and Culture, Bruce Dewar of 2010 Legacies Now, Ida Goodreau, CEO of Vancouver Coastal Health, United Way CEO Michael McKnight, VanCity CEO Dave Mowat, CanWest MediaWorks president Dennis Skulsky and Vancouver city manager Judy Rogers.
Kelly loves the transportability of Vital Signs and envisions it being used by school administrators, trustees and even students.
“I can take that document into all kinds of settings and use it as a reference point to create plans of action,” said Kelly. “The objective of the document has to be that it is translated into tangible things.”
What Vital Signs makes clear is that educators can’t confine their actions to the single narrow band of education. To learn, people have to be fed, healthy and housed, “or they fall between the cracks,” Kelly said. “[The Vancouver school board] has a formal responsibility to education, but in behind that we have a broad responsibility to serve learning.
“Unless we do connect ourselves with health and people’s lives and industry and commerce we aren’t doing our job.”
The absence of As on the report card didn’t bother Kelly: Like any good student Vancouver needs something to strive for. “While there is room for improvement, each of the areas showed real strengths and a great foundation” Kelly said.
Rogers sees the document as a vindication of the work the City of Vancouver already does in social development and housing. “It really complements the work we have done and where we are moving. It will influence all our planning going forward.”
In creating and releasing Vital Signs with many of the city’s most powerful people and organizations, Rogers was able to reinvigorate existing partnerships and start to forge new ones. “It’s really a chance to coordinate our work together.”
Goodreau used the experience to get direct feedback about the role that health care providers can play in the larger community.
“I like the immediacy of it; this is what people are really thinking as opposed to this is what we think people might be thinking,” she said. “There was enough specificity — clear signals — that we can use it to zero in on actions.”
Of the 12 Vital Signs the report tracks, 10 are shared by the other participating cities. Two are unique to Vancouver: Diversity and The Livable City.
“We consulted with more than 200 people in Vancouver to find two categories that are important to us and that really help tell the story of Vancouver.”
Diversity and how newcomers are welcomed into the community are unique issues in Vancouver, she says, and do not come up at all in the foundation’s outreach dialogues with people outside the Lower Mainland. But as Vancouver’s populace edges closer to 50 per cent visible minorities, our ability to tolerate and celebrate each other becomes one of the central aspects of the city’s life.
TORONTO‘S TRACK RECORD
Toronto’s success in bringing about concrete change is a legacy the foundation hopes to emulate.
A page in Toronto’s Vital Signs 2005 posed the question: “Where are the opportunities for Toronto’s youth?” It made note of several disturbing trends: dropping enrolment in organized sports; high youth unemployment; and an eight-year increase in violent crime by youth and against youth.
“It was the single biggest thing that the media asked us about,” said May Wong, vice-president of community initiatives. “It stimulated a lot of discussion.”
But it was more than just talk.
Concern over a record number of gun-related crimes in Toronto last year was impetus for a partnership between the Toronto Community Foundation, parks and recreation, the public and Catholic school boards, the United Way, the Toronto Blue Jays and Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment. They created the Toronto Sport Leadership Program, which started in January, just three months after the report came out.
The program helped 120 young people from the city’s most troubled neighbourhoods train for national certification as lifeguards and coaches for basketball and soccer. By the end of April 90 per cent of the kids had certified in at least one level of coaching or lifeguarding and many got jobs with the YMCA and the city’s recreation service, Wong said.
Not only are those kids in sports and employed, but they are great role models for the other kids in their neighbourhoods, she said.
“We looked at what Toronto did and how they were able to use it, promoting discussion and citizen engagement and change on these issues,” said Wightman. “We thought, ‘Gosh, let’s learn from what they did and let’s do it.'”
Vital Signs will be produced this year in Toronto, Vancouver, Victoria, Ottawa and Montreal. The project is spearheaded by the Community Foundations of Canada, the national network of community foundations of which the Vancouver Foundation is a member.
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ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT
Vital Signs is a snapshot of our city’s livability produced by the Vancouver Foundation, backed by a thick sheaf of statistical data from the city and the region, as well as opinion surveys undertaken in the City of Vancouver. Greater Vancouver, the area stretching from Langley Township to Bowen Island, is assigned a letter grade for its performance in each subject area as graded by a panel of 200 community stakeholders from around the region. The panel’s priorities for change were collected before any of the report’s data was presented. Not a single A was awarded, according to Vancouver Foundation CEO Faye Wightman, so improvements are expected. The 35-page Vital Signs 2006 is a colourful summary of a massive program of analysis and consultation; a more detailed online version is available at www.vancouverfoundation.bc.ca.
B+ THE LIVABLE CITY
This category is unique to the Vancouver version of Vital Signs and acts more like an overall grade for many of the project’s other key issues than a single subject area. Livability is defined by the city’s performance in such areas as green space, public transit, recreational opportunities, mix of housing types and access to waterfront, in short, a compendium of all the things that make Vancouver a desirable place to live.
Top priority for improvement: Public transportation
B+ DIVERSITY AS WAY OF LIFE
Nearly everyone in Vancouver comes from somewhere else. That diversity is reflected in everything from our cultural festivals and multilingual services to the city’s mind-boggling array of ethnic restaurants. A staggering 44 per cent of Vancouverites speak a language other than English or French at home at least some of the time. When it comes to diversity, we revel in it: Diwali and Lunar New Year events draw hundreds of thousands of people.
Top priority for improvement: More cultural events
B WORK
If numbers don’t lie, then Greater Vancouver is a workers’ paradise, with thousands more jobs than workers. Demand for skilled labour is being driven by preparations for the 2010 Winter Olympic Games. The employment rate is flirting with record highs. The numbers also show real incomes have shrunk since 1999, average household expenditures exceeded household incomes in 2004 and Vancouver is Canada’s second most expensive city to live in.
Top priority for improvement: Increase minimum wage
C+ GETTING STARTED
Greater Vancouver is a main entry point for new immigrants to Canada, and those that arrive here tend to stay here. Despite our proliferation of services for immigrants, new arrivals have difficulty finding meaningful employment, with women having a particularly tough time entering the job market. Those who do crack the job market are being paid less than previous waves of new immigrants and their earnings are slower to catch up.
Top priority for improvement: ESL classes
C- RICH-POOR GAP
The gap in earning power between Vancouver’s poorest earners and its richest has grown steadily for the past 25 years, with the top 10 per cent of earners making more than $10 for every $1 dollar earned by the lowest 10 per cent. The proportion of new immigrants living in poverty has more than doubled since 1980, while the number of seniors in “straitened circumstances” has dropped.
Top priority for improvement: Homelessness
D+ HOUSING
The worst grade on the city’s report card, it is also one of the toughest to address. The number of shelter beds is greatly exceeded by the number of people living on Vancouver’s streets. Housing them is complicated by issues of addiction and mental illness. Even those with homes spend more than other Canadians for shelter and because the Greater Vancouver is an attractive place to live, the demand for — and price of — housing is high.
Top priority for improvement: Low-cost housing
B- SAFETY
Vancouverites generally feel safe walking their city’s streets and most don’t worry about letting their children play in the neighbourhood, but all is not rosy. We don’t feel as safe as other Canadians and almost one in 10 will be a victim of property crime. After a decades-long, slow decline, violent crime has inched upward since 2002. We do keep an eye out for bad guys; by the end of this year there will be 557 active Block Watch groups.
Top priority for improvement: More police officers
B LEARNING
Opportunities for education abound for people who speak English. Vancouverites are highly educated with more than 60 per cent of us holding at least a college diploma or better; another seven per cent hold trades certification. But new immigrants are putting a strain on the existing ESL services and new data shows that four in 10 immigrants who start high school will leave without a diploma.
Top priority for improvement: ESL classes
B ARTS AND CULTURE
Performance, literature and the arts are an important part of public life in Greater Vancouver and showcase the region’s ethnic diversity. The arts are also becoming a significant source of employment. The arts labour force in the region grew an astonishing 57 per cent between 1991 and 2001 and still lagged most Canadian cities. In B.C., only Victoria employed a greater proportion of its labour force in the arts.
Top priority for improvement: Funding for the arts
B- BELONGING, LEADERSHIP
Examining a hodgepodge of volunteerism, personal philanthropy, local government and high voter turnout paints a picture of community involvement, civic pride and caring in Greater Vancouver. While fewer of us give to charity than people in other Canadian cities, those who do give are more generous than other Canadians. Nearly half of adults report donating their time to a cause.
Top priority for improvement: Increase volunteering
B HEALTH AND WELLNESS
Clean air, clean water and a favourable climate make Greater Vancouver one of the healthiest jurisdictions in the world. We exercise more and live longer than most Canadians. We have access to 70 per cent more doctors per capita than the rest of Canada. The region is also home to 12,000 injection drug users, 4,700 of them in the Downtown Eastside, who die by the dozens every year from overdoses.
Top priority for improvement: Reduce drug addiction
B ENVIRONMENT
Our attitude toward the environment is a study in contrasts: We recycle in huge numbers and huge amounts, but we also throw away enormous quantities of trash. We boast some of the finest parks and value protected habitats, and yet we use water as though it is an unlimited resource. We have strict emissions standards and maintain them through AirCare, but emissions continue to rise along with the number of cars of the road.
Top priority: Air quality
© The Vancouver Sun 2006
